Return to site

Alibaba Buys into Megvii: Facial Recognition Bubble Expands

· Megvii,Alibaba,China,Facial Recognition,Ai

Alibaba Buys into Megvii: Facial Recognition Bubble Expands

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has recently taken another dip into the tech industry, participating in a $600 million round of funding for facial recognition company Megvii.

broken image

Facial recognition is a booming industry with new players entering every day.

With similar intentions as Amazon, it’s American counterpart, Alibaba seeks to gain access to advanced technology and apply Megvii’s facial recognition into aspects of its own services, including fintech startup Ant Financial.

broken image

Amazon has invested heavily in facial recognition technology.

The move also reflects a global push into technology by companies of nearly every industry, either through their own research and development or through acquisitions. Megvii and its rivals like SenseTime have raised ample funds—the latter is in talks to raise $1 billion from Softbank Group’s Vision Fund—and aim to use the capital to aid retail initiatives.

Written by Michael Ding, Edited by Jack Vasquez, Alexander Fleiss